Based in Indianapolis, the “Crime Junkie” podcast has been in production since 2017, covering far-flung cases from across the country and spanning different decades. But it was an unsolved case right in their home state that has made the biggest impression on Prawat: the 1988 kidnapping, rape, and murder of an 8-year-old girl named April Tinsley from Fort Wayne, Indiana.
“It happened an hour and a half away from where I grew up,” Prawat told us. “She was older than me, but her story felt so familiar to both me and Ashley. It was a story that we really wanted to tell, and it had been unsolved for 30 years [when ‘Crime Junkie’ first covered it in 2018].”
It’s a case Prawat followed her whole life, so recording the episode titled “WANTED: Monster in Fort Wayne, Indiana” was both emotional and cathartic. A few months after the episode was released, Tinsley’s case was officially solved when a suspect was arrested, charged, and convicted — and “Crime Junkie” ran a subsequent follow-up episode.
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The conclusion gave Prawat a certain amount of relief. “As a mother, it’s still a story that haunts me,” she said, “but the fact that there is some closure and some justice makes it a little bit less haunting for me now.”
New episodes of the “Crime Junkie” podcast premiere Monday and are available for listening and download wherever you enjoy your podcasts.
You can also watch Prawat’s promotional podcast for Temptations at TemptationsTreats.com/Cat-Burglar.
